


My Brothers Keeper

by ImBackBoi



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Age Progression, Age Regression, Child Death, Cody POV mostly, Cody needs a hug, Dreams, Gen, Lovecraftian Elements, Obi-Wan Needs a Hug, Somewhat graphic, The author attempts horror, Unreliable Narrator, clone death, tag as I go?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:15:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28656321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImBackBoi/pseuds/ImBackBoi
Summary: After the complete and utter clusterf*ck that was their mission, Cody wakes up on a mostly dead ship in the middle of force knows where. General Kenobi wont wake up. There is a baby on the ship. Cale and Reed wont leave him alone. There's a melted body in the bay, and Cody?Cody is 12 and he looks it.Things gradually get worse from there.
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody & Obi-Wan Kenobi
Comments: 13
Kudos: 49





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome! I have never written horror before, so... feed back about what does and doesn't make your stomach churn, send shivers up your spine, or encourage the growth of goose bumps would be appreciated.
> 
> Also. I have never written a SW fic before. So, let me know if things aren't meshing right. Or if they are. >_>''''
> 
> PS - The last chapter is all planned out and half written. The problem is -getting- there, am I right?

Belching smoke and fire, the Negotiator plummeted out of the sky. Explosions detonated throughout the ship, popping out of her sides like horrible flame and slag filled pustules.

“ _Vod_ ,” someone whispered in horror, “ _VOD!”_

“ _EVACUATE!”_ Cody roared over the channels, closely followed by General Kenobi's, “ _All units, fall back. I repeat, all units fall back. Lets get the hell off this planet!”_

Blaster fire pierced through the smoke and haze of battle. Angry cerulean slashed and flashed, brighter and more violent than lightning as it cut through swathes of battle droids advancing on their position. Giant invisible hands would sweep through enemy numbers like water, and like water, enemy droids would flow forward into the newly emptied spaces.

The whole mission had been a farce. He'd known the second they'd entered the system and General Kenobi had uttered the dreaded _'I have a bad feeling about this_.' There wasn't anything that hadn't gone wrong. Intel had been off. Coordinates had been off. Ship malfunctions.

Betrayal.

By their own blood.

Several enemy destroyer class ships coming out of hyper space and immediately hitting the Negotiator with the ion cannon had rendered her practically defenseless.

Separatist fighters screamed through the air, shooting escape pods out of the sky. Pods hit the ground, smoldering, heat rippling from the metal, too hot to touch. They smelled of cooked meat and melted plastoid.

Most of the troopers were dead on impact. Few died screaming as the droids bore down on them.

“ _Everyone down!”_ Kenobi bellowed.

Thunder, all encompassing, earth shaking, bone jarring; heat, to hot for their armor; the shock wave threw anyone left standing, droid and clone alike.

The Negotiator was down.

“Cody!” Kenobi was suddenly in his face, “Vod! Get up!”

Cody struggled to move, but couldn't.

“Go-!” he slurred, “General, leave-”

But Kenobi was already hauling him up and over his shoulder.

“Shut up, Cody. That's an order.”

Cody grunted and then Kenobi was moving. Faster than any speed Cody could go on a good day. _Must be using the force,_ Cody thought dazedly, self aware enough to try and not flail and struggle, lest he make things harder for Kenobi.

“Commander!”

Cody blinked and slurred something unintelligible.

“Kriff,” the voice said. His voice, actually. They were all his voice and his voice was everyone's. Cody giggled. _Someone had cloned his voice-_ “Fucker is giggling – you! Shiny, strap him in-” 

Clone. Hah.

Hands on him. Cody blinked again, everything was too bright and hurt so damn much. The shuttle jerked-

Screaming-

“Get us the kriff out of here!” Kenobi. Thank the force.

“There's too many fighters-”

“I'll handle the fighters, you send out the evacuation and rendezvous codes.”

“Oh, fak, so many dead-”

“-lucky to be alive-”

Cody's head rolled. He stared hazily at the open hatch. Kenobi stood in the gaping hatch, a silhouette against the open backdrop; a brilliant wash of destruction, thick black smoke streaked the scarlet sky, the rumble of distant armaments echoed in his bones, fighters screamed in pursuit-

Hair and robes whipping around him, Kenobi reached out and up into the open air; his outstretched hands slowly closing into tight fists. Squinting, Cody could just make out the fighters on their tail as one lost control, crashed into the other and burst into fire. He exhaled, and the third crumpled in mid air. Kenobi turned, eyes flashing yellow in the blooming carnage-

Claxons were screaming, his head throbbed.

“Vod, you alright?”

The ship jolted, Cody threw up.

…

Cody was swimming. He needed to reach the surface, but couldn't. Every time he grazed the surface, a gentle hand pushed him back down and tried to submerge him beneath the dark warmth once again. Cody never stayed where it was safe, because someone needed him. So, he fought.

“Cody?”

A soft voice pulled him out of the dark and into consciousness.

“Gen'rl...” it hurt to speak. He tried to sit up but it was like his body was on fire. Gently, warm hands stopped his efforts to move and pushed him back down. “W'zitss-”

“Shh. Cody, no. I need you to go back to sleep,” the General said, “You need to stop trying to wake up. Stop fighting me.”

“Ss'r-”

“Quiet now.” Hands pressed against the side of head and Cody was able to focus a little better. “Listen to me. We made it out in one piece. We're in hyperspace, but something's gone wrong,” Cody's head swam; the volume of the General's voice floated between wailing alarms, the sussurus of soft robes, and the harsh breathing of his brothers. “I can protect you, but you need to trust me when I say it's better for you to sleep. This isn't a fight you can handle.”

“Je'tiiish'vit.”

The General huffed. There's still blood in him.

“Eloquent,” thumbs rubbed Cody's temples. He felt a little better, “and not wrong. Let me handle it, vod. Let me protect you and the others.”

Ok.

Cody could do that.

He trusted the General with his life.

The darkness was already pulling him back under.

“ _Sleep.”_

…

Somehow, somewhere, there was a baby screaming.

Cody struggled through the clinging darkness towards wakefulness.

“Ugh,” his tongue was thick and sluggish; his teeth gross and fuzzy. The clone breathed deep and gagged on the stench, “That's disgusting. Ugh, ew-”

The screaming cranked up a notch and Cody forced himself up into a sitting position to look around. He froze and stared.

Sprawled out on the floor was General Kenobi, now white at the temples. Next to him, chubby hands banging on the Generals chest, naked as the day he was decanted and red as a berry, was a baby.


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The silence gets to Cody.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the slow descent into madness begins.
> 
> As for the melting, think Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.

...

The baby's filth was not the only reason for the stench permeating its way through the little ship.

A search had swiftly revealed two dead bodies. One had obviously died from his wounds after the ship had left the planet and was now rotting. The other body was going to give Cody nightmares for a very long time. He never wanted to think about how flesh could melt away from its bones into rancid, putrid puddles, leaving behind body armor and rank blacks that clung to the contorted skeleton. Even the skull still seemed to wear an expression of pain and terror.

Cody had had just enough presence of mind to drop the baby on its butt before racing to the fresher to empty his stomach.

Finished dry-heaving, Cody got up to wipe his face and rinse his mouth. He stared into the mirror.

_This is going to take some getting used too_ , he thought, forcing himself to think about anything other than the melted vod. Cody might have been twelve, but he hadn't actually looked twelve in about six years and, after marveling at the squishy cheeks and baby fat, didn't think he'd ever looked so soft. He was shorter, his voice younger, but-

“This is karked up.”

The scar was still there, though.

Of all things.

“Buhbuhbuhbuhbuh,” the baby crawled half naked into the fresher after him. He'd squirmed out of his blankets. Wasn't he cold? The shiny baby had to be cold. _Cody_ was cold, “Buhbuhbuhbuhbuh.”

(He could still smell the bodies)

“Exactly.” Cody nodded at his younger reflection, before turning to pick the baby back up. “You're right, kid. Kriffed up. My bad.”

Holding the baby was comforting and he cuddled it closer, desperate for anything after the sight that left his blood frozen.

(When was General Kenobi going to get up?)

After waking up earlier, Cody's throbbing headache and big brother instincts demanded he pick up the baby and make it stop screaming. He'd cleaned the little one up and wrapped it in an unused towel and a blanket because it was so kriffing cold he could see his breath (was life-support even working?). Then, he'd cleaned up the mess and checked to make sure the General was still alive and put a blanket over him, too.

Finally, he'd gone to inspect the rest of the ship, baby in tow. 

Now, he was here. 

“I guess we should finish our inspection, huh?” Cody re-wrapped the baby, picked it up, and moved on. “Then we can get back to everyone in the other room. How does that sound?”

“Buhbuhbuhbuhbuh.”

“Right.”

Throughout his inspection, Cody had found five more clone brothers in various stages of adolescence. Every single one in a deathlike sleep and blue lipped. Each time, Cody had picked them up and taken them back to the Generals room, tucked them into the jedi's side, and then resumed his and the baby's inspection.

“I really don't want to,” Cody told the baby, “But I kind of have to go back there and finish that room.”

“Buh!”

“If I do it now, then I don't have to do it later. Besides, there might be something useful we could use.”

“Buh!”

They stopped at the door. Cody's stomach rolled and his jaw clenched. Dred trickled down his spine. His breath quickened. It was colder. The door loomed, filling his vision. He had to -

The baby screamed and flailed, smacking him in the face.

“You're right,” Cody stumbled back, almost tripping over himself to get away from the door. “Let's do it tomorrow.”

...

It was quiet, except for the soft breathing of his brothers and the General. Even the baby was asleep.

Cody was beginning to hate the quiet. And the cold, and the way he could see his breath even though life support _was_ working.

Barely.

He'd adjusted his brothers so they were all partially piled on top of each other and the general to some degree, found as many blankets, towels, and shock blankets from the med-packs as he could find and did his best to cover everybody up.

Was it going to be enough? How much longer before hypothermia set in? Why wasn't the General (or anyone else) waking up? 

There was food on board, but he wasn't sure it was going to last them very long with out some planning. Water was going to need to be carefully rationed. 

What about the bodies? 

Cody shuddered.

The baby snuffled and he tried to curl in around it even more. Cody was at the edge of the clone pile with his back out, facing in, the baby carefully cuddled against his chest. Tears pooled and dripped steadily down his cheeks, leaving hot trails that quickly became like ice.

Why wouldn't anyone wake up?

Muffling a sob, Cody clung tighter to the baby. 

...

Groggily, Cody slowly came to. He vaguely remembered his dream, the indistinct warmth and distinct loneliness he'd felt in it, and the insistent beeping that had so annoyed him-

No. 

The beeping was real. Blinking, he propped himself up a little and looked around. Everyone was exactly as he'd arranged them before going to sleep. He frowned and tilted his head. The beeping was faint. Not his com then. 

The cockpit?

Eagerly, he got up, managed to stuff the baby into one of General Kenobi's arms with some finagling of limbs and blankets ("Be good," he told the baby softly, "No pooping on the General."). He'd then wrapped a blanket around himself and trotted off, following the beep. 

"Yes!" Cody threw himself into one of the cockpit chairs. There _was_ a message waiting. "Please be friendly," and hit the button.

Static.

Three solid minutes of static and jumbled noise. 

He listened to it three more times just to hear something else. 

...

Cody ate his beans right out of the package. Calling it beans though was probably pushing it. Could beans that were mushed, mixed with preservatives and additives, pressed into a bar, and then freeze dried still be called beans? Why did beans need all those chemicals if they were going to be freeze dried anyways? What made a bean a bean in the first place, and at what point was the bean no longer a bean?

The baby gummed his bean chunk with zeal, gurgling and making nasty noises as he did so. 

"Why are you so gross?" Cody asked the baby, taking another bite of his 'beans'. 

The baby paused. He grunted, strained, and let out a muffled, machine gun fart.

" _Ugh!"_

...

Something was different.

Cody stared at the clone pile. Fighting the urge to turn and look directly down the hallway as chills crawled over his body. 

Something was _wrong_.

He tilted his head, trying to catch more with his peripheral vision -

_There!_

Cody whipped around and sprinted back the way he came. 

Nobody.

He could have sworn...

" _Buh. Buhbuhbuhbuh."_

Twisting, he saw the baby babbling away in the open doorway behind him, right where Cody left him, wrapped in all his blankets. 

"Turd," he huffed, faced forward again, and stumbled back with a yelp. 

The melting clone screamed in silent agony. He shuffled towards Cody, fluids leaking through the blacks and dripping down its armor. He reached for Cody. That awful, rotting _smell-!_

"I-" Cody gagged out, falling back in terror, "I'm s-sorry, vod. I'm sorry! I can't help you!"

The baby screamed. 

Turning, he snatched up the baby and slammed a hand on door pad, keying the locks. Wild eyed and panting, Cody waited and shivered.

Pressed against his chest, the baby bawled. 

His blanket had fallen off in the hallway. 

...

" _Hello?"_

_"Hey, vod! Anybody here?"_

_"Kote,_ " the voice said, _"Wake up, Kote."_

_"_ I already am awake," Cody mumbled from his place in the pilots chair, "Leave me alone."

" _I know you're there, Kote."_

"Go kriff yourself," Cody turned up the volume on the static message. 

" _Why did you leave us behind, Kote?"_ the static asked. " _Why did you let us die?"_

"It wasn't like I wanted too."

_"Why, Kote?"_

"I'm sorry."

_"Why?"_

"Shut up."

_"Why?"_

_"_ I said shut up!"

_"Why?"_

_"_ Go away!"

_"Why, Kote?"_

_Why?_

...


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Twin Terrors awaken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...keep in mind that they have been regressed.
> 
> And act accordingly.
> 
> :D

When Cody turned the corner to see two clone brothers standing there in the hallway like the creepy terror twins from that one holo-movie he and the rest of his batch bootlegged that one time, he froze, unsure if they were hallucinations, ghosts, or something else.

“If you're going to start melting, wait for me to turn around,” then he about faced, and sprinted back towards the cockpit. It wasn't a long sprint, the ship being as small as it was, and as soon as the door slid shut behind him and locked, something heavy thumped against it.

“The kriff is wrong with you!” a young voice shouted, accompanied rhythmic thumps on the door.

“Nothing's wrong with me,” Cody hollered back, “I'm tired of being haunted, now go away!”

“Kriffing haunted? There's no such thing as ghosts!”

“Why the kark are we so small? Why are you so small, Cody?”

“Why is everyone else still asleep?”

“You _are_ Cody, right?”

“How long have we been out?”

“What the hells happened?”

“Why did you leave us behind?”

“Why, Cody?”

“Why?”

The voices became more and more agitated that Cody worried they were going to wake up the baby. He palmed the door. It slid open to the astonished faces of his (Maybe dead? Maybe living?) younger brothers.

_Why, Kote?_

_Why?_

“Shut the hell up before you wake the baby!” he snarled viciously, “That's an order!”

Twin faces darkened mutinously.

One started to say, “You're not the boss of-” and Cody decked him, then kicked the other in the gut.

“Huh,” he pulled back, shaking his fist out, “Guess you're real after all.

“You weren't joking about the baby,” said the twin now identified as Cale; the other, Reed, declared suddenly, “I'm only going to speak to it in Mando'a.”

“That's stupid,” Cale frowned.

“You're stupid.” Reed shot back.

“Shut up,” Cody growled, mentally dubbing the two the Terror Twins. He almost regretted the loss of mostly silent and almost complete isolation, but he didn't. If they could wake up after several days of death-like sleep, on top of how ever long they'd been drifting _before_ Cody woke up and started counting hours, then the others definitely could.

They were going to wake up.

General Kenobi was _definitely_ going to wake up.

“Hey, Cody,” Cale asked, “How come it stinks so bad in here?”

“Yeah,” Reed snickered and bounced the baby, who laughed, “Didja fart, baby vod?”

“I thought you were going to speak to it in Mando only?”

“Shut up, Cale.”

“Make me.”

“Do _not_ fight while holding the baby,” Cody snarled, marching over and snatching the little one out of their hands. “If you really want to know why it smells, go look in the bay.”

They came back pale faced and green tinged. Flanking Cody, they each leaned against a side while the baby sat in his lap and gurgled cheerfully like the disgusting little gremlin it was. Cody closed his eyes and relished the warmth their contact brought.

“Beans _?”_ Reed stared, horrified at the freeze dried meal Cody had handed to him, “ _Beans?”_

“Yes, beans,” Cody rolled his eyes, “You going to eat it or what, soldier?”

“I _hate_ beans.”

“They don't even look like beans anymore,” Cale handed a chunk to the baby, who began gumming it enthusiastically and drooling all over the place. “That's disgusting. You're disgusting.”

“I'm pretty sure they don't even count as beans anymore.”

“Beans are disgusting.”

“Then _don't kriffing eat it.”_ Cody bared his teeth, “And then you can starve because you were too much of a shit to eat the kriffing _beans_ and when you _kriffing die_ we can toss your body in the bay with Melty. And when the General wakes up and says, 'Hey, where's kriffing Reed?' we'll just be like, 'Oh, that dumb shit wouldn't eat his beans _so he kriffing died.'”_

He exhaled violently through his nose.

“But-”

Cale punched Reed, “Just eat it, moron.”

Reed stared at Cody warily as he took a bite and made a face. Cody twitched.

“ _Buh!”_

“Exactly,” Cale handed to baby another chunk. “Yummy.”

The light sparkled.

“Hey,” Cale flopped onto the bench. He was wrapped in his own blanket. The cuffs of his blacks had been rolled up over his ankles and wrists much like Cody's.

“Hey.”

They were all in the General's room. Reed was on the floor with the baby, trying to get him to say words. His cuffs were rolled like theirs, but instead of wrapping himself up burrito style like Cale and the baby, he'd tied it around his neck in a large cape, like Cody.

“How's it going.”

Cody didn't even look at him, tracking the sparkle as it spun in lazy circles.

“Fine.”

“Vod,” Reed was holding the baby up under his arm pits, making him stand on his chubby feet, “Say, Vod. _Vooooood._ Vod. Voddy vod vod. Vod.”

“So, uh, I was wondering,” Cale fidgeted, “Why is it so dark in here?”

“Dark?”

“Yeah, like,” the younger boy gestured to the room, “ _dark_. Is something wrong with the life support.”

“I don't think so,” Cody shrugged. The little sparkle smoothly transformed into a series of squares, rectangles, and rhombus'. “It's been like this since I woke up.”

“...Right.”

Cale fell silent. They sat and Cody watched the little light.

“Sh!”

“What?”

“Don't you kriffing 'sh' me.”

“ _Shut up!”_ Cody hissed, shooting a glare at the twins as he padded swiftly over to the door and crouched by it. “Just _do it.”_

“What is wrong with you-ouch! Fine, shutting up now.”

Cody pressed his ear against the frigid door, thankful he'd begun locking the door when everyone was in the room, or it would have opened automatically and given away his position.

He shivered. Something shuffled on the other side of the door.

_It was back._

“What is it?” Cale asked quietly, “What's back?”

“What?”

“You said it's back. What's back?”

Cody took a deep breath and exhaled.

“You can't smell it?”

“Smell what? Other than the normal.”

“Him _.”_

“Him _who?”_ Reed stressed.

“ _Him_.”

Cody fidgeted, pressing both palms against the door. The shuffling was getting closer.

“We have to stay in here until he leaves,” he muttered, “Don't open the door. Stay near the General. Don't open the door.”

“...Are you okay?”

“ _Just don't open the door!”_

“Fine!” Reed threw his hands up, “We wont open the door. Jeez.”

“Just don't open the door...” Cody backed away from the door as silently as he could and went and curled up in the blankets next to the baby. “Don't open the door.”

Eventually, he fell asleep to the hushed muttering of Cale and Reed.

“ _Cody,_ ” someone was shaking his shoulder, “Cody, wake up.”

Cody grunted and propped himself up on his elbows.

“What?”

“We need you to unlock the door,” Cale said, “Or I'm going to piss myself.”

“Why the kriff would you do that?”

“Because you locked it, you karking SOB,” Reed snapped, “and then freaked out about an imaginary ghost.”

“You're full of shit,” Cody said, getting up, “I locked it because the baby likes to escape, and if he does he'll get out of his blankets and freeze.”

“You really think that?” Cale asked suspiciously.

“ _Yes.”_ Cody keyed the pad and unlocked the door, “Watch out for Melty.”

The twins moved passed him and as the door slid shut, he heard the muffled exclamation - _'lost his bloody marbles!'_

“Idiots,” Cody muttered and went back to sleep.

“What are you doing?”

The twins turned to stare at Cody in freakish unison. They were huddled together in the pilots chairs. Small as they were now, it was more than big enough for both of them.

“Looking at the stars,” Cale replied, “trying to figure out some constellations.”

“Oh,” Cody sat in the co-pilot chair with the baby. “Find any?”

“ _Buh buh buh.”_

“You're not going to freak out on us again, are you?” Reed demanded.

Cody frowned and bounced the baby on his knee. Cale covered his face.

“ _Bubuh buh bah!”_

“You're so kriffing stupid, I can't believe you.”

Cody ignored them both and looked out into space. A vast ocean and full of nothingness, where even the largest planet was nothing but a small island of life and death where no one mattered and nobody cared. Kind of like Kamino.

“ _Buh!”_

“Find anything?”

Except, on Kamino there was life in the ocean as well as some deep places no one ever dared go.

“Well,” Cale pointed to a grouping of particularly bright cluster of stars, “That one kind of looks like our buckets.”

Maybe there were places like that in space, too.

“And over there is a lightsaber,” Reed pointed out somewhat cheerfully. “Or maybe a penis. I'm not sure yet.”

Cody snorted and bounced the baby.

They got another message. Cale and Reed raced to the cockpit when they heard the beeping while Cody and the baby followed at a not quite as fast pace. By the time he got there, the twins are fighting over the pilots seat. Cody sat in the co-pilot chair and they turned to him in anticipation.

He knows they think he's nuts, but it's nice that the chain of command is still there.

“Turn it on,” he says and mentally braces himself for more silence and static and _why, Kote? Why?_

Cody shuddered involuntarily.

_-pssht-crackle-_

_“This is CC 5576-39, is anybody out there? I repeat, is anyone -pssht-"_ the radio speakers screeched and crackled like fire before dying abruptly , " _-We are currently headed to the rende-pssht- and should reach our destination within -"_ the radio whine and flared again. One of the twins adjusted the setting and cleared it up, _"and could really use some medical. It's... It's pretty bad. Gregor out."_

Cody closed his eyes and breathed deep. _Gregor. What had happened to Gregor?_

In all the time that Cody had been awake. The amount of time he'd spent monitoring the scanners - not once had anything blipped. Not once had he seen the tell tale streak of a ship leaving hyperspace through the dash. 

Beep

"There's another one," Reed murmured.

"Do it."

_-pssht-_

_"This is CC 5576-39. The rendezvous point is not there. I repeat, the rendezvous point is not there."_ Gregor was panting hard. There was yelling in the background. " _There is nothing. Out."_

Beep

What the _kriff_ did that mean?

- _pssht-_

 _"This is CC 5576-39. There is nobody else here but us. Then why the kriff are we still here, no one asks? We've sustained meteor damage. There's a fuel leak and the hyperdrive is out. We're limping along, but life support is on the rocks. We... We've had to put the wounded down."_ Gregor let out a half sob, half laugh, _"Maybe it's just me and I'm loosing my mind, but something isn't right. Out."_

Beep

- _pssht-_

 _" I thought I saw another ship today. It was an asteroid. Rations are low. The shiny killed himself,_ " Gregor reported mechanically, _"Morale is shavit. Some of the clones are showing some distressing-_ " a background voice murmured something, then a distant shout " _-What do you mean? Awe, kriff. Out."_

Beep

-pssht-

 _"It's me again,"_ Gregor whispered. There was muffled screaming in the background. _"I don't have much time. They - something's happened. They've snapped. They're beyond reason. I don't know what's happened other than prolonged isolation. And the smell. We jettisoned the bodies, but the smell lingers. Some of the clones have reported,_ " he choked a little, " - _before. Before that it would get stronger and they would see things. See_ him _."_

Gregor was silent, but the message didn't stop neither did the muffled inhuman voices.

 _"They don't deserve this."_ Gregor said with sudden conviction, _"My brothers don't deserve this. They're going to get in here eventually... If anyone gets this message, tell - tell S'Rena I love her. Out."_

Gregor was dead.

Cody stared out into space.

"What are the time stamps on those messages?"

Reed whirled on him.

"Time stamps?" he shouted, "You want to know about kriffing time stamps? You've been awake how kriffing long and you didn't do a damn thing to help them!"

 _"Time stamps."_ Cody snarled, "Point of origin, too, while you're at it."

"Kark you!" 

"You got a problem, soldier?"

"Yeah!" Reed pointed violently at Cody, "You, you psycho lunatic! You're the problem! This is all your fault!"

"How?" Cody adjust the baby in his lap, "You've seen the logs. I know you have. Cale, too. There's been nothing. No one. Not a blip on the scanners. Not an asteroid. No meteors. Hells, no force-damned planets either. The auto-nav can't even recognize where we are."

"He's right, Reed," Cale said quietly and matter of fact, "And it's not like he can go in there and change things like that, not on this kind of ship. Not without a droid, which we don't have. Or pulling the entire box, which we'd know if he did because it's a bitch to get to and you basically have to crash the craft to get to it."

A vein twitched at his temple and his face burned hotly. 

"Slanar at haran!" Reed seethed and left the cockpit. 

Silence reigned in the wake of Reeds tantrum and Cody went back to staring into space. 

"I'm not getting a point of origin," Cale said shakily, "But the time stamps date the messages from last year."

Kriff. 

He'd was almost finished up in the fresher when he heard the baby crying. 

Again. 

Cody sighed heavily and muttered, "I'm coming, I'm coming... Jeez."

He rinsed, dried his hands, and did a mirror check.

("Yup. Still a kid."). 

"C'mon, tubey," he strode through the door, "If you've gotten out of the blankets again, I'm going to kriffing tape you into a burrito-"

And froze. 

" _Cody!"_

Little hands smacked the front of Cody's legs as a vod'ika reached up as high as he could to get to him. Cody picked him up mechanically. Cale and Reed pressed at his back.

“Cody,” the little voice snuffled, cute and adorable, with big eyes and a trembling lip, “Cody, I'm scared.”

"Oh, shavit," whispered one of the twins.

Cody looked down at the vod'ika in his arms. Kid wasn't older than five. Or what he thinks a normal five should look like? Had he ever looked like that? Had any of them? Why? Why had this even happened? _H_ _ow?_

“I'm scared, too,” whispered one of the other vod'ika's. The third nodded along.

“Okay,” Cody knelt and the other two swarmed him. Warm, bony, heavy _living_ little things that they were -

“That's fine," he said, ignoring the tears, "Everything is going to be okay."

_Everything was going to be okay._

...


End file.
